Las Vegas Casinos Supplying Aid to Unpaid TSA Agents

^{TSA staff members move donated lunches from MGM Resorts at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas during the recent partial government shutdown, (Photo: Ty O'Neil / AP)}

LAS VEGAS – President Donald Trump started deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to airports across the United States on Monday in an effort to keep lines moving amidst a nationwide Transportation Security Association (TSA) staffing shortage due to a partial government shutdown.

Fortunately for travelers at Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, they have been relatively unaffected by the long lines seen elsewhere thanks to area casinos that have stepped up to keep local TSA workers working around the clock.

MGM Resorts International has reportedly sent more than 1,400 meals and care packages to those who screen airplane passengers and have been unpaid for the past five weeks. With over 1,000 TSA staff members at LAS, supporting them during one of their greatest times of need has proven to be a big win for the Vegas travel industry and economy as a whole. More meals and care packages are planned for the next week, according to MGM.

As for travelers leaving Sin City, they have barely even noticed any delays at the airport. Adam Rosenberg, a consultant in the sports gambling space, visited clients recently at Circa Resort & Casino. He flies to Las Vegas every four to five weeks and has not missed a beat regarding his travel plans because it has mostly been business as usual here.

“I travel a lot, and it’s to Vegas 99 percent of the time,” Rosenberg said. “It’s the easiest city of any to get in and out of, probably the only one that I am universally comfortable leaving my hotel under an hour before my flight. That continued this past weekend ... I had no issues or lines at all. I think that entire thing was overblown.”

Casinos a Key Component in Vegas Community

Late last year, there was a brief government shutdown for about six weeks between October 1 and November 12 that also impacted TSA employees at LAS. That is when the airport opened a “food and essentials” pantry where workers could get non-perishable snacks and other items donated by MGM and various organizations throughout the city.

The pantry was re-opened when the government shut down again on February 14. LAS has since reached out to the community on social media in hopes of restocking the pantry.

MGM is one of the companies that helped stock the pantry originally and continues to do so through the more recent donations. The Strip’s biggest casino brand has shown how contributing many little things can certainly add up to a lot and make a significant impact, keeping the city running effectively and efficiently whether there is a shutdown or not.

Other US Cities Not So Lucky

Photos and videos posted on X have painted a much different negative picture of what cities outside Las Vegas have had to deal with lately, with ICE agents arriving at 13 other airports, including Atlanta (ATL), Cleveland (CLE), Newark (EWR), Houston (HOU), New York JFK (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA), New Orleans (MSY), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Philadelphia (PHL), Phoenix (PHX), Pittsburgh (PIT), Fort Myers (RSW) and San Juan (SJU).

The hope with the addition of the ICE agents at airports is that they can relieve TSA staff of some of their security duties, allowing the latter to focus more on checking identification and running the X-ray machines. In the bigger scheme of things, the country will obviously be better off when the government shutdown finally ends and TSA are no longer unpaid.